Vesel Jahiri, of Louth Village, Dundalk but originally from Kosovo, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Anna Finnegan at Allendale Glen, Clonsilla, Dublin 15 on September 21, 2012.

Mr Jahiri has also pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm on Anna Finnegan's brother, Karl, on the same date.

The Central Criminal Court has heard how Ms Finnegan and Mr Jahiri had been in a ten-year relationship that had “deteriorated dramatically”.

They had two young children together and “access had become more than a thorny subject”.

Last week, Karl Finnegan gave evidence that having put the children to bed upstairs, Anna and he were having tea in her kitchen when Mr Jahiri allegedly burst through the door and came bounding down the hallway with a knife in his hand.

An altercation took place, the court heard, in which Mr Finnegan was stabbed in the chest and head while Anna Finnegan fled in distress, screaming.

She ran outside to get help from a neighbour but collapsed on the roadside shortly afterwards, the court heard.

Mr Jahiri claims Karl Finnegan produced the knives and Anna was fatally injured while trying to stop her brother from stabbing him.

Electrician Damian Lynch, who worked and socialised with Mr Jahiri for ten years, gave evidence today that he spoke with the accused at approximately 9:40pm on September 21 2012, after Mr Jahiri had brought Anna Finnegan to hospital.

Mr Lynch said Mr Jahiri told him, "‘Damo it's all f****d up. I called up to Anna, her brother attacked me with a chair and a knife. I got the knife off him and defended myself. Anna jumped in the middle she got hurt’".

Mr Lynch said the accused told him he was after bringing Anna to hospital. He wanted her brother Karl to come but he wouldn't, the witness said.

Mr Lynch said Mr Jahiri told him Anna was ok but 'the brother got it bad'.

“He asked me to call the hospital to check if Karl was OK but I said that was beyond me, I couldn’t do that.”

Counsel for Mr Jahiri, Brendan Grehan SC, recited Mr Lynch’s statement to gardaí which he was woken out of bed at 11pm that night to make.

The witness confirmed that during the call he asked Mr Jahiri to come to his house because he thought the accused might kill himself. “He was in an awful state. His voice was almost crying, like."

Mr Lynch said he had no difficulty with the gardaí, that he wasn’t under pressure to change any parts of his statement though they cautioned him with advice on aiding and abetting and made him feel “like I was the criminal”.

After one hour of the garda interview, Mr Lynch said the officers informed him that Anna had passed away, which he hadn’t been aware of up until that point. “It will be on the news shortly,” gardaí had told him, the witness said. “That was a shock to me,” he told the court.

Mr Lynch said he and Mr Jahiri would regularly call each other to talk about cars they were fixing. He said they had three telephone conversations on September 21, 2012.

At approximately 5pm Mr Jahiri called him to say he hadn't been fixing cars lately, “’I’ve been trying to fix my family. I've been having trouble with Anna's sister,’” the witness said.

Earlier, Anna Finnegan’s sister, Lisa, gave evidence that she was at home with her family having dinner when a woman she had never met phoned to tell her there had been an incident at Anna’s home.

“’I'm afraid there's been an incident. Anna's not here, your brother's been injured'. She said she didn't know where Anna was,” the witness said.

Lisa Finnegan said she and her partner left immediately to go to the James Connolly Memorial Hospital and while she was on her way she got a call from Mr Jahiri.

“As soon as I picked up the phone I said ‘where's my sister’”. He replied to say he had brought her to the hospital, the witness said.